' 2015 Seat Leon Cupra 280 Performance Pack ' Test Drive & Review - TheGetawayer 

This will be my first proper car

Great to see more variety in the reviews lately. Great work Guido!

Awesome review Guido! That intro was awesome and the editing is great! It's cool to watch you drive the B roads and heel-toe. Makes me want to be a better driver! It's too bad they don't sell them here in the states, I think the Golf R is way overpriced here so if they sold the Seat I'm sure it would do really well. I like the looks, it almost looks like an Audi to me. Keep up the great work buddy!

Good sleeper I think. Not all wants flashy look, good job VAG.

Great video!One of the best out there on Seat Leon Cupra 280!

There's a thing about hot hatches for me that I love...the pleasure you get from driving them. Driving a Porsche or a Ferrari is a majestic experience...but if you push too hard you'll be affraid to wreck it. That doesn't happen in cars like that Leon Cupra. It's very easy to find the limit on those cars and the limit is enough for us to enjoy with no concern of taking a corner too hard and crash like we would in any supercar. So...having said that, If had all the money in the world I would have to have an hot hatch in my garage in order to have a car I could take to the limits without being affraid of killing myself. :D Nice review Guido. Take care!

Great review of the Leon Cupra 280. I have owned 2 GTI's, both have been great fun. The Fiesta ST looks like a riot for the money. Will admit though, the drive wheels handling all the power is a recipe for understeer even if the torque steer is controlled.

Very nice review ! I have this car and i can agree with you, this Cupra is awesome !

Excellent review!

I can't wait for the day I will be in the market for one of these!

Great video, love that interior!

Great review and thanks for reading my comment!!:)

Great review as always, wish this car was available in the US I would buy it in a heartbeat!

Great review as always. Love watching these over a coffee. I've only ever driven a Golf GTD and frankly that surpassed my expectations - I was expecting it to be dull as dish water as its described by many being from VW but it was very competent, sure it wasnt a sharp tool but I could put the thing where I wanted and it didn't feel disconnected. I suspect the GTi, R and the Seat Leon Cupra are all excellent. Would gladly have one.

Great review! Keep up the good work! :)

Even early Seat Leon's were a blast, i remember the 4wd tdi/1.8t versions they were amongst the fastest on the road back then. and now, using the same ingrediënts as vw and audi, they make a better car than the allmighty golf gti.. gotta love those amusing germans/spanish!

The best driver focus car videos I've seen, thanks! What's better Golf R or Cupra? Not much difference in the price used.

Tolle Autos, gute Aufnahmen und ein sympathischer Tester. Bei all dem Englisch fände ich Berichte auf Deutsch angenehmer, doch mir ist klar, dass du das volle You-Tube-Potential nutzen willst. Fahre selber den Cupra 280, allerdings mit DSG und freue mich über so einen positiven Bericht. All deine anderen Videos habe ich mir auch gleich angesehen. Mach weiter so, echt super.

Well Presented. After seeing the video I have just booked a test drive of 280 manual transmission.

As a BMW driver I'm not used to moving out of peoples way...but it looks like I'll have to when I see this car coming. I'm really impressed with it and if I was in the market for a hot hatch then I would seriously consider one over a Golf.

Great review my friend and thanks for reading out my comment! Like I said I have both a Porsche C4S and a Seat Leon Cupra 280. The SEAT does everything so well for a lot less money and like you said it hardly sacrifices the quality too. Combine the fact that its extremely fun, fast and practical, it is a perfect companion car to the Porsche. My wife is currently using it as a family car for our new born baby...fits a pram and luggage very easily and is comfortable too. For me, when I dont have passengers, its a perfect fun car to go from A to B where in some cases you wouldn't take the Porsche. Maybe you can review the Cupra ST? :)

Great vid, thanks.

Very nice review!!! Would like to see more of this reviews on RU-vid. I love the new Cupra, if you look at the quality you get for the money it's awesome! I've ordered a 280 Cupra 5dr 21st Feb to replace my 2009 VW Golf VI GTI. Hope to get it soon!

I admire his honesty you would think he would stick up for the Audi and vw group brilliant he has convinced me to purchase this car over the other two mentioned

Great review; easy to see how much fun you were having driving that beaut. Would that SEAT let the rest of the world in on the Cupra 280 party!

Bit of a late comment i know, but I've pretty much watched every single review that there is about the Cupra... in particular the new 290. It is definitely the one for me as it ultimately defines a hot-hatch: Performance (so impressed with the low-end torque over a broad rev range) combined with practicality that makes it enjoyable and can put a smile on your face on a daily basis. And YES, an absolute must in manual! By the way the leather on the steering wheel and gearknob felt really premium when I went to see it. Cheers from Sweden :D

If they brought this car to the USA with a RWD/AWD option id buy it. This thing looks amazing, interior is sick.

Lovely in-car view of the driving. We don't have these kinds of roads in Canada and the speed limit is so low you would probably find yourself slowing down even if your were driving a chariot >_

Thanks for the great review, how well insulated from tyre and road noise is the cupra compared to a gti? I'm deciding between the 2 and I travel a lot for work. I imagine this would be part of the cost cutting?

great review Guido. i've owned one for a month so far. I didn't go for the Performance Pack as it only upgraded the brakes (which are more than good enough already) and lighter wheels (which weren't the ones used for the 'Ring lap time anyway) The PSS2 tyre's are optional on the PP but they would be a better choice over the RE050's. sure there's the RS275 Trophy but for me it looked boring, lacked practicality and would attract too much attention from the wrong type of driver.

This segment is becoming really hot. In addition to the Cupra, which we don't get in Canada, there's the Golf R, and now the Ford Focus RS and now you guys in Europe also get small wagon versions of these cars. e.g. Golf R wagon and Cupra ST wagon. Shame but Audi doesn't bring any of their hot wagons anymore and they only bring the automatics. The Seat is not available here, and VW will not be bringing the R wagon. I'm without a replacement for my aging A4 wagon!!!! Oh nice video Guido!

I can tell after having some fun hatchs to compare apples to apples... RS3, S3, GTI and Leon Cupra, that I love this car, it is so fun and fast, it kept up with a Honda CBR600 between 200-250 kph that I was really surprised on its performance (yah yah not legal speeds in my country, and yes factory speed limit is gone too...), one defect coz maybe my driving style is that it has understeering in high speed corners but it gets the job done (it could be great to have the 4 wheel vectoring from the VWs ), I can tell breaking is powerful but 250-0 it can get a bit harsh and disks will get very hot to a point it might lose breaking power (ceramic or better airflow at disk could really make a difference), I really can go anywhere with out feeling I will run into trouble or to be unsafe, same I do triathlons and cycling, it has enough space to garb your gears (bike, cloths, helmet, wetsuit, suitcase etc... and friends of course) and have a fun weekend! Said so, its cheap (but it has all the nice gadgets of my RS3 - sat, BT, good, sound, nice seats....), stable, fast, and very practical!

Excellent review as always Guido! As a manual MK6 GTI owner, I believe a hot hatch is what a gran touring/ sporty coupe should be, but with added practicality such as the extra space, with a higher center of gravity being the only price. Anyways, I have a request to ask of you: I love your Porsche reviews (you may recognize me from all the praise I've given you in the past from your Porsche reviews haha). You instilled a love for Porsches in me, yet I also like having practicality as well. That being said, I am very curious to know if the Cayenne Turbo S is worth consideration for driving dynamics and driving pleasure versus, say a much cheaper Grand Cherokee SRT8 (Yes, I live in the states haha) that is nearly as fast but lacks the steering feel and sharp driving dynamics I crave from a proper Porsche driver's car, such as a Cayman for example. PLEASE do a review on a Cayenne Turbo S!

Why Seat dashboards looks like some 90's Saab dashboards? Your car reviews are goods as many commercial tv chanels do :-)

Great review. Do like reviews more focus on the day to day experience rather than a reviewer thrashing it on a track, which 95% of us don't do daily. I'm always impressed with VAG. They basically turned the same car, same chassis and same engine into multiple variants with different badges to target different markets. seat/skoda the cheap variant, vw average and audi upperclass. Problem with this car will always be the badge, as like the R and S3, they have great tuning potential as well. The other being a RS competitor, for a bare basic hot-hatch, the RS275 is a much better car. Owned a RS250 for 18 months, and in terms of pure joy, nothing beats it not even the R or S3.

If you were in the market to buy a hot hatch in 2022 would you pick this over a Golf R ? Great review as always Thanks.

Less music i know theres not much of it but i prefer r the raw engine sound but great review

Thanks for the video. Always great to see what other people think of this car. I think you missed the opportunity to mention the importance of Seat fitting a mechanical LSD in this model, a fairly rare thing and pretty critical to the car's cornering performance. I personally admire any company who installs one on their sport modesl (Renault Clio/Megane Cup for example). You also could and should provide your impressions on a car's steering feel. How does it compare to, say, Audi's lifeless steering? Do you get any sense of what is happening at the contact patches from the steering wheel? Or do you have to guess what is going on? How did the "Progressive Steering" feel? Does it feel natural when going tighter into a turn, or does the increased speed towards lock, feel odd because it's not a linear progression? (I like fast steering in a car but have wondered what this system feels like). Also how is the steering weight? Heavy? Light? Does the weight build up in the corners when you lean on it? l You could also comment on the suspension's damping characteristics. Is it a well damped chassis? Is it supple? Or is it just stiff, for that sporty feel, but will not survive 10 minutes on a rough Britsh b-road? Is there a degree of comfort still or is it a teenager's idea of what a fast suspension is supposed to be (rock hard, no travel, super low)? You mentioned the Brembos, how is the pedal feel? Are they grabby? Or do they have a progressive feel in their application? Did you experience any fade on your aggressive street driving? In regards to the pedals, how is their placement for heel toe? Would appreciate yout thoughts on these things. And perhaps you might consider talking about the above mentioned aspects when reviewing future cars. Cheers!

Excellent review Guido. I owned a 2007 Leon Cupra back in the day and have fond memories of it. Have you tried the Octavia vRS? I have children so need the extra space.

Something different with the sound in this video? sounds quite muffled... other than that, another excellent review !

Any chance of testing a Golf GTI?

How tall are you? I might buy one but the seats seems short. Can you extend the headrest?

Ich habe vor etwa drei Monaten mein bisheriges Alltagsauto, einen Lancia Delta Integrale zum Sommerauto umfunktioniert und als Alltagsauto durch einen Seat Leon Cupra 280 ersetzt. Das, denke ich, sagt schon einiges über diesen Seat aus. Ich kann den neuen Seat Leon Cupra nur jedem wärmstens ans Herz legen, der ein alltagstaugliches Auto braucht, es aber auch abseits der öffentlichen Strassen mal krachen lassen möchte. Vielleicht werde ich nächstes Jahr beim Ford Focus RS schwach, da ich beim Leon doch ab und zu meinen geliebten Allradantrieb vermisse. Bis dahin bleiben wir beide aber ganz sicher ein gutes Team. Gruß Blackthump

Welche Farbe ist das in dem Video? Ist das Silber oder dieses Dynamic?

Hi Guido, ich gebe dir absolut Recht. Der Wagen ist wirklich toll. Ich konnte bereits vor einigen Tagen den Leon Cupra 280 ST fahren. Unfassbar wie handlich der für ein Kombi ist. Kann ich dir nur empfehlen. Ich habe ja einen 6er GTI mit 300PS und suche einen Nachfolger mit mehr Platz. Der Cupra ST steht da derzeit auf Platz 1. Der Octavia RS ist aber auch wirklich super. Wenn man sich bedenkt, was z.B. Siemoneit nur mit Stufe 1 Software aus dem Wagen rausholt (370PS/500NM), einhergehend mit einer Vmax von 290Km/h, dann ist das wirklich ein unfassbar gutes Angebot. Der Gen3 888 ist wirklich ein herausragender Motor, egal ob GTI, Octavia RS, Cupra, R, S3. Natürlich ist das Potential beim Cupra 280, R und S3 deutlich höher, da ein anderer IHI Lader verbaut ist und auch die internen Komponenten verstärkt sind, dazu zählt auch ein größerer LLK, aber dennoch ist auch die kleinere Ausbaustufe schon hervorragend. Danke für das tolle Video (wie immer)!

Is that just a standard silver??

Very nice car. I prefer the 3 doors version. Good review. Grüsse from a 911 fool :-)

Wieder mal ein schönes Video Guido, weiter so :) Ich bin zwar BMW-Fan durch und durch, aber für den Preis eines Golf GTI's fast die Power eines R's zu bekommen ist schon erstaunlich. Wie schaut es denn mit der Traktion aus, untersteuert dieses Fahrzeug häufig, insbesonders im Nassen/Grenzbereich bzw verliert es häufig die Traktion, da die komplette Power nur auf die Vorderachse verteilt wird? Und wie schaut es mit dem Verbrauch aus, denkst du dass die Norm bei normaler Fahrt ansatzweise zu erreichen ist? Über eine Antwort würde ich mich freuen Grüße aus Niedersachsen Lukas

How would you rate this against BMW M135i? I am now thinking this as new vs 20k driven M135i. And of course I will daily it. (likely also buy LSD for BMW if I get that)

No more gti money, rather Golf R money! That Leon cupra 290, with performance pack, costs as much as a golf R now!

I've added a short video on the Driver Profile settings. Some of you interested in the Cupra might find it useful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PS7BouPYfng.html

I think I would rather have a vw polo r wrc. Any thoughts on that?

The integrated Headrest of the seat is really low or is the man so tall?

¿What about with the DSG version? ¿Is that a good transmition?

Lovely car, just don't like that grey plastic thing on the back bumper

Wie groß bist?

Wie siehts es aus mit einem Test vom neuen Mini Cooper S?

Cupra 280 or VW R?

09:59 Honestly, driving at legal speeds in that? It sounds impossible to me. I currently drive an Ibiza Style 1.6 TDI 90 HP and I find it quite hard to drive legal speeds just because it drives 'too' good! I'm upgrading to a Leon FR 1.4 TFSI 150 HP in a couple of months... Legal speeds... Ha Ha Ha :) :) :)

Focus Rs

The Golf is stupidly popular in the UK too and I do not understand why. They're overpriced and boring to look at, and boring to drive. The main issue with the Golf is the people that drive them, I've never met anyone that drives a Golf that I do not want to punch in the face because they're so fucking arrogant, claiming the Golf is the best car and nothing is better in anyway. Which is why I love the Seat so much, it looks better than the Golf, drives better than the Golf, and the fact it is based on the Golf but is better than that boring box makes it great.

I don't like the interior, it's cheap and I don't bother it has 50 hp more than the GTI...the torque is the same 350 Nm, both are FWD so in the real world they are equal like dynamics, the GTI is just much more pleasant car to sit and drive it every day....